


One rant, One revelation

by yehwellwhatever



Category: NCIS
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-02
Updated: 2010-03-02
Packaged: 2017-10-07 15:53:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/66673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yehwellwhatever/pseuds/yehwellwhatever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is less than happy after the events in One Shot, One Kill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One rant, One revelation

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler: One Shot, One Kill (1.13).

Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo banged his hands on the steering wheel and tried his best to strangle an angry cry. "Of all the stupid fucking things he's done, this sure takes the prize," he muttered to himself, hoping no one would overhear.

"Did you say something, Tony?" a voice sounded through his earpiece.

Of course, of all the people to overhear him it would have to be Abby. For deaf parents she sure had good hearing! Tony groaned, "Nothing Abs, just thinking aloud."

'Who is stupid enough to remove their lifeline?! I swear I'll make him pay if that damn sniper doesn't get him,' Tony thought as he munched his sandwich.

After that, everything happened so fast that Tony almost forgot his worry about his Boss. The sniper took a shot and the only thing saving Gibbs from a sure death was the extra thick security window.

Within minutes, Abby had identified the location of the sniper and Tony drove off.

It didn't take long for Tony to find him. Jumping out of his car, he pulled out his gun, pointing it at the sniper and ordering him to drop his weapon. Before backup from the FBI had arrived, Tony was forced to shoot him down to save his own life.

Less than a minute later Gibbs and Kate arrived, and Tony breathed a sigh of relief seeing his Boss was all right. Even though he knew the window had caught the bullet, he'd subconsciously worried that something had happened.

During the entire ride back to headquarters, Tony kept quiet and only just about answered when spoken to. He knew that the others probably would realize something was wrong, because he usually was the one to keep the conversation going, even when Gibbs drove as if he'd stolen the car. But he really didn't care about that right now. What Gibbs had done was stupid, damn it!

Just thinking about it made him scowl. He wasn't really sure why he was angry. It wasn't the first time Gibbs had risked his life to solve a case, but it was the first time Tony had reacted this way. He couldn't deny that he had been disappointed when Kate had been chosen to go undercover instead of him. HE was the senior agent; HE should be the one in the field with Gibbs, watching his six. Instead, he had to dress up as one of the Village People and then sit in a car and wait, and wait, and wait. He had his suspicions as to why he'd reacted the way he had, but he chose to ignore them, as he had so many times before. Anthony Daniel DiNozzo is a ladies-man; he'd dated enough women to prove that.

It wasn't until about an hour later, after Gibbs had left with a 'DiNozzo. Captain', that Tony allowed himself to relax. Making sure that his boss wasn't within earshot, Tony leaned back in his chair.  
"So, what was it like?" he asked.

"What like?" Kate wondered, walking over to her own desk.

"Being his superior officer," Tony said, watching Kate.

"You mean; did I get to boss him around? Make him salute me? Call me 'ma'am'?" Kate asked, putting on her jacket.

"Basically," Tony smiled.

"It was great," Kate stated, closing her desk drawer.

Tony half-laughed, cocking his eyebrows. "You're lying."

"Am I? You know, Abby said you looked good your uniform too," Kate said seriously, grabbing her handbag.

"Did she?" Tony asked, sounding doubtful.

"Yeah, she said you'd fit right in with the biker boy, and the Indian chief, the cowboy and all the other macho, macho men," Kate said in a teasing tone, while walking away and doing the YMCA moves with her hands.

Once he was alone, Tony closed his eyes, huffing and crossed his arms across his chest. Slumping his feet up on his desk, he took a couple of deep breaths. Now that he was alone again, Tony's thoughts drifted back to Gibbs. He couldn't help it, but what he'd said to Kate about killing Gibbs if the assassin didn't do it was truer than he cared to admit. He couldn't believe Gibbs had been such an idiot as to remove his vest because he thought it was visible underneath his shirt. His reason for taking Kate and not him had just been plain stupid, and so what if his hair was a little on the long side? That would take like what, a minute to fix? After all, HE was the senior agent, not Kate. Since Kate came along everything was upside down. It was as if Kate was Gibbs's new protégé.

Tony wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting at his desk deep in thoughts when he felt someone's presence in front of him. Slowly opening his eyes, Tony came face to face with a stern looking Gibbs.

"Boss… hi," Tony said, shuffling slightly to get his feet off the desk without knocking something down.

Gibbs grunted, "What are you still doing here, DiNozzo?"

"What's it to you, 'Boss'?" Tony asked, frowning. "It's not like you care what I do on my own time or anything like that…"

Tony knew it sounded malicious, probably a little angry too, but he couldn't care less. "In fact, I seem to remember that you not so long ago said that you had no interest in our personal lives. All you cared about was that we did our job and nothing more. So if you don't mind you can leave me alone now, because I have nothing to say that would be of any interest to you."

Tony could visibly see Gibbs' facial expression change from stern to almost furious. "What the hell is your problem, DiNozzo?" he growled, stepping closer to the desk separating him from his subordinate.

"My problem? You wanna know what my problem is?" Tony asked, rising his voice with every word. "My problem is – that I'm sick and tired of this. Ever since Kate joined the team, it's as if I don't matter anymore, as if I don't exist. The only time you acknowledge me is when you give me a headslap for something I've said or done that you don't approve of. All I get to do these days is stay at the office and make phone calls. I've not been on a single undercover op since Kate joined, and there's been a few! Hell, I've done one stakeout, ONE, with PACCI, during the last month. Granted, I've said I don't find them particularly satisfying, but come on – it's basically the only work I've done out of the office since Kate joined; I don't even get to go out on all the crime scenes anymore! You know how much I hate doing nothing but sit around the office all day. Honestly, it feels as if you've made Kate your Senior Field Agent and demoted me to Probie, a fucking Probie!" Tony fell silent. He as by now standing up with his hands fisted on the desk as he leaned over it, his face a mere foot from Gibbs. Tony stared his boss straight in the eyes, never once wavering, with a look of pure anger shining in his own, darkening, eyes.

"Are you done yet, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, seeming unusually calm and cocking an eyebrow.

"NO, I'm not fucking done yet!" Tony said, taking a deep breath, silently wondering to himself if he could say what he wanted to say next without cracking up and revealing more than he was sure either of them could handle at this point. "I'm the one who's supposed to watch your six, the one who's supposed to have your back out in the field. Not Kate, just not… Kate!" The last words left Tony's mouth in a tone of resentment mixed with desperation, jealousy and a little sadness.

Tony took a few deep breaths, trying to calm his nerves and racing emotions as well as his shaking knees. He lowered his gaze, sure that his true feelings were on show and half-afraid of what he would see in Gibbs' ice blue stare. He heard footsteps not ten seconds later and was sure that Gibbs would either just walk away or give him one of his usual headslaps, at the least. Or even worse – that he'd understood what was really behind all the anger and fire him out of repulsion.

"Sit down before you collapse, Tony," Gibbs said as he dragged a nearby chair, Kate's chair, Tony noted, judging by the direction of the sound, over and sat down close to Tony at an angle so that he was able to watch Tony's face.

"Tony, look at me," Gibbs just about ordered, but Tony did nothing to indicate he'd even heard Gibbs speak. "Tony, look at me," Gibbs said again, in a gentler voice. There was an unspoken 'please', which would never be voiced. Gibbs didn't do begging. As if Tony had also heard the difference in his boss's voice, he looked up, not quite meeting Gibbs's eyes. Hopeful that he had Tony's undivided attention, Gibbs spoke.

"Let me explain, Tony," he paused.

"Explain what, Gibbs? That I've been here two years now but I'm not up to your standards so you let me do all the things I'm worst at and find the most boring, hoping that I'd quit on my own so that you wouldn't have to fire me and mess up your track record? Well, let me tell you something Mr. Leroy Jethro 'Second B's for Bastard' Gibbs, you're not alone in your methods. I've been through this before. That's exactly how they did it in Peoria and Philly. Probably would've done it in Baltimore too if you hadn't offered me a job after that joint investigation. Bet you're regretting that now, huh? But I'm NOT quitting this time, so you'll either have to fire me now or I'll ask Director Morrow to be assigned to another team tomorrow, because I'm not going to put up with any more of your crap! Either way, I'm NOT quitting NCIS!" Tony came to an abrupt halt in his rant as he saw rather than heard Gibbs chuckle.

He couldn't believe it, that bastard! He had some fucking nerve sitting there and laughing at him!

"What the hell is it you're laughing at?" Tony said, furious.

"You--" Gibbs gasped, trying his best to calm down.

"You bastard," Tony spat, making Gibbs sober up at once.

"You've got it all wrong, Tony," he said. "Let me explain."

"Explain?" Tony asked. "I don't think there's anything to explain really, you just like the Secret Service babe better than you do the incapable cop. Too bad you've got your Rule #12 and Kate's not a redhead, could've become your ex-wife number four," Tony sneered. Well, wasn't that just great, he just had to disconnect his brain and mention the thing that would reveal his jealousy.

"Don't even go there, DiNozzo," Gibbs warned.

"Oh, broken it already have ya?" Tony asked flippantly.

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs warned again, his face showing no emotions.

"That good, eh?" Tony asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Just shut the fuck up and sit down and listen to me!" Gibbs growled. "I never figured you as such an egoistical little prick! I have a reason for everything I do; you should know that by now. Before you interrupt me," Gibbs said, putting up a hand, knowing that Tony was about to say something. "You've got it all wrong, but you've put your imagination to good work, I'll give you that. I won't let you quit, you are NOT going to transfer to another team and I certainly have no inclination what so ever to fire you!"  
Gibbs looked over at Tony, who was looking very bewildered.

"Don't tell me you've actually been jealous of Kate?" Gibbs asked, his tone calmer this time.

"Well…" Tony hesitated, once again not wanting to reveal too much. "I guess I might have been a little jealous. I mean, it's just been the two of us, and then all of a sudden you bring on a new team member and start giving me all the crappy assignments a Probie's supposed to do. What was I supposed to think? So if you, as you just pointed out, have no inclination what so ever to fire me, please do explain, because I'm dying to know what I've done to deserve this!"

"You haven't done anything wrong, Tony," Gibbs said. "The reason I've put you on deskwork lately and only brought Kate with me to the field most of the times is simple. I want the best team NCIS has ever seen. Now you, DiNozzo, you're great in the field, one of the best Agents I've ever had with me in the field to be honest. And I'm not saying that just to boost up your ego, though Lord knows you need it some times. You need to learn how to be the best at paperwork too, to be the best Agent NCIS have ever seen. When it comes to Kate on the other hand, she's a great profiler, and good at the paperwork, but she needs to learn how to work in the field."

Gibbs took a pause to look at Tony; his features had softened a little. "Now Tony, I'm gonna say something I never usually say. I went at this all the wrong way, it wasn't my intention to hurt you and make you doubt your abilities. For that I'm sorry."

Gibbs fell silent and studied Tony. When Tony hadn't said anything for a long few moments, Gibbs spoke up again.

"Tony?" Gibbs questioned. Tony finally met his eyes, a barely there, sad smile plastered on his face.

"I really am sorry, for the way I've handled things these last few months and for being a bastard. Accept my apology?" Gibbs asked, reaching his hand out to Tony.

Tony reluctantly accepted the hand, his own grip much looser than usual, but kept quiet.

"We okay?" Gibbs asked, somewhat hesitantly.

"Yeah…" Tony said. "Yeah, we're okay." Smiling a smile more similar to his usual grin, Tony couldn't help it. "You've got one thing wrong though…"

"And what's that, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"You're not a big a bastard as you pretend to be." When he'd said that he laughed wholeheartedly as Gibbs gave him his trademark headslap.


End file.
